Most teachers feel mobiles are biggest challenge: survey

By Lin Hsiao-yun and William Hetherington  /  Staff reporter, with staff writer

Nearly two-thirds of elementary-school teachers find the use of cellphones in class by students to be their biggest challenge, according to a survey conducted by the King Car Educational Foundation to coincide with Teachers’ Day yesterday.

The survey, which asked teachers what challenges they face in their jobs, showed teachers are concerned that their influence over students is not as great as that of cellphones and the Internet, foundation secretary-general Tseng Ching-yun (曾清芸) said.

Tseng said the survey showed that 62.1 percent of teachers complained about widespread cellphone use in class, 63.5 percent about the growing influence of mobile Internet access and 62.4 percent about the excessively negative affect of online media.

Tseng said respondents also pointed to campus bullying (76.3 percent), school manners (65.7 percent), schoolyard safety (50.9), students disrupting class (67.4 percent), students talking excessively during class (44.4 percent) and students skipping class (37.4 percent) as challenges that they must overcome.

The survey also indicated that 44 percent of students have significantly few aspirations in their studies, while more than 82 percent of teachers expressed concern that students are increasingly of “poor quality.”

Teachers feel that their influence over students ranks fourth after parents, peers and cellphones, which Tseng said is evidence of their declining position.

The survey showed that 64.2 percent of respondents said they are particularly concerned about their ability to maintain the attention of their students, given a trend toward merging schools and reducing teaching staff.

“The school is no longer a place of knowledge, and the tradition of ‘revering the teacher, respecting the teachings’ has already changed. Youth today are easily influenced by online communities,” Tseng said, adding that society and heads of households must assist teachers to protect their influence.

Tseng advised teachers to keep their stress under control and positively approach the multifaceted nature of their students.

Lee Ya-ching (李雅菁), head of the National Federation of Teachers Unions’ Professional Development Center, said the problem of an excessive number of teachers continues to worsen, adding that changes to the teacher certification system must be considered, among other changes to the profession.

However, Lee said that schools cannot be expected to solve all of the problems they face while reducing staff numbers.

She said that thought should be put into finding ways of leveraging excess teachers to assist in the tutoring and disciplining of students, as well as assisting with pedagogical research.

“Do not increase teachers’ worries over an excess of educators [due to falling enrollment numbers caused by the nation’s low birthrate]. This is an opportunity to turn teaching around for the better,” Lee said.

Results and comments were compiled from 1,580 returned surveys out of a total of 2,000 sent to elementary-school teachers earlier this month, the foundation said.